


all you need is love (but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt)

by brightest_stars



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Chocolate, Christmas, Christmas Chocolate, Christmas Fluff, Discord: Bellamione Coven, Discord: Bellamione Cult, F/F, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, implied disordered eating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:53:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28405056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightest_stars/pseuds/brightest_stars
Summary: Bella doesn't have a sweet tooth, or at least, Hermione doesn't think she does. And it's Christmas too.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Bellatrix Black Lestrange
Comments: 8
Kudos: 91





	all you need is love (but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt)

**Author's Note:**

> So the inspiration for this hit a couple days after Christmas. It goes a little darker than I had planned - it's like dark chocolate, bitter and sweet - but it's still fluffy, to an extent :)
> 
> Many thanks to Abby for her help rounding out this idea!
> 
> The title is a quote by Charles Schulz.
> 
> Enjoy!!!

Hermione leans back in her desk chair, and twists the key in the top drawer, unlocking and opening it. She pulls out the little cardboard box and sets it in front of her. With a small smile to herself, she opens it… and blinks. She could’ve sworn there were two in there. She never,  _ ever _ leaves one of anything behind. There’s no point, because when you return for it, one is never enough. Hermione sighs in frustration, and assumes she had absentmindedly eaten more chocolates than she meant to last time. Oh well, one is better than none, she thinks picking up the last chocolate and eating it in small bites, savouring each nibble.

Next time, Hermione goes to the cupboard to have the last wagon wheel with her tea, intending to curl up with a book and lose herself in the story. When she opens the packet, it’s empty.  _ Bloody hell! _ She’d left this one behind, specifically for this afternoon, after a long week at work, and she knows she  _ never _ puts an empty packet back in the cupboard. Hermione growls and jams the packet into the bin loudly. She rifles through the cupboard for anything else she can have with her tea, but there’s nothing there. Sighing, Hermione takes her tea and drinks it on it’s own. The afternoon isn’t quite as relaxing as she’d hoped, with her biscuit plans foiled.

The same thing keeps happening, sweets and sugary things vanishing when Hermione had sworn they were there. Some times Hermione really does just put it down to absent-mindedness and tiredness, but then she starts thinking someone is doing this to her. It’s definitely not her wife, because she never eats sweets, never ever, the closest she gets is honey on toast. Maybe it’s Ron or George (or any Weasley really) playing a long April Fool’s joke, or maybe someone’s significant other has put them on a diet, and Hermione’s sweets are the only sugar this thief can get.

Arriving home earlier than expected on Christmas Eve, Hermione is completely taken by surprise. The cottage is warm and smells like pine trees and frankincense. And on the couch is a napping Bellatrix Black, her wild hair pouring over the arm and the cushion, her bare feet, toenails painted black, propped up on the opposite arm. Hermione’s special, just for Christmas, a little treat at the end of a long year, box of Cadbury Roses is set carefully on Bellatrix’s stomach, one hand resting inside the box, holding it in place.

Hermione stifles a little gasp, and she feels her heart melt a little. So this has been where all her chocolates have been vanishing to, the last biscuit in the packet that Hermione had saved for her tea, the piece of chocolate tart she’d sworn was a little bigger than it ended up being when Hermione went back for her leftovers the next day.

How had she missed it? Bella was the only other person who lived in the cottage, and though they had many guests, Hermione knew most of them wouldn’t go sneaking through her cupboards and stealing her sweets. Her wife had been stealing her chocolate for months, years probably, and all Hermione felt was overwhelming love for the woman asleep on the couch. But Hermione had never seen Bellatrix eat sweets, after seven and a half years together, including five years living together.

Catching sight of the glittering Christmas tree, an idea pops into Hermione’s head. SHe slips from the cottage quietly, without waking her wife, and she heads down the street to the supermarket.

With a basket hooked on her arm, Hermione slowly peruses the confectionary aisle, plucking items off the shelves that catch her eye. Before she checks out, Hermione passes the Christmas display and collects a few more items.

After leaving the shop, Hermione slips all her things into her invisibly extended bag, and arrives home, pretending she’d never come in earlier at all. Bellatrix is reading a book, crunching on an apple, and she welcomes Hermione with a smirk and a kiss.

“Hi, love. Did you have a nice day?” Hermione asks, wrapping her arms around Bella’s shoulders from behind and resting her chin on her wife’s shoulder, peppering her cheeks with kisses.

“Hmmm,” Bella replies, “I got some work done this morning,  _ finally _ finished the arithmancy for that new spell. How was work?”

“Oh, that’s good,” Hermione says with a grin, turning Bellatrix's face to her and kissing her softly. “Work was… work. Not much to do today, but I’m glad for some time off. Now, I’m off to wrap some more presents. No interrupting!”

Hermione moves to leave, but Bellatrix grabs her and pulls Hermione down onto her lap, kissing her deeply. “Bella, Bella, I have presents to wrap!” Hermione struggles off Bellatrix’s lap, and the black-haired witch leans back with a smug smirk, eyes raking up and down Hermione’s body.

“Go on then, little elf.”

Hermione rolls her eyes and laughs as she leaves. She still regrets teaching Bellatrix about some muggle Christmas traditions and stories, because Bellatrix has happily latched on to more things to tease about.

On Christmas morning, Hermione wakes to Bellatrix’s hands on her hips, her lips sucking on her collarbone.

“Oh my god, Bella,” Hermione moans, pressing her body into Bellatrix until she sees the time. “Oh my god! Bella! Bella, stop, we’ll be late!”

Bellatrix lifts her head and kisses Hermione until the younger witch pulls away, “Bella, we won’t have time to do our presents, or  _ get ready _ if we don’t get up now. We have to be at Molly’s in two hours!”

“Let’s be late,” Bellatrix growls, pinning Hermione down and kissing her again. Hermione can’t help but react to her wife, wriggling her hips, and chasing Bella’s lips when she pulls away.

Hermione catches sight of the clock again and shakes her head clear. She twists so that she is straddling Bellatrix’s hips, and Bellatrix lets out a breathless laugh, dark eyes burning with desire. “We can finish this later, love.” Hermione leans down and kisses Bellatrix once more then scrambles off the bed before Bellatrix can drag her back.

Bellatrix lets out a loud and dramatic sigh, then she follows Hermione downstairs. Hermione is waiting for Bellatrix, sitting cross legged in front of the Christmas tree.

Hermione grins as Bellatrix flops down next to her and they start exchanging presents. Last is the bag full of individually wrapped items, that Bellatrix unwraps one at a time.

When the last item is revealed, Bellatrix looks up at Hermione. She’s not smiling as wide as Hermione had hoped. She looks confused and a little… hurt? Her dark eyes are unreadable, her jaw clenched and her shoulders tense.

“What’s all this, pet?”

“Well, I came home yesterday, and I saw you asleep on the couch,” Hermione explains. “I thought you’d like it, but… you don’t?”

Bellatrix shuffles back so that she’s leaning against the couch. “I… You saw me? With the…” She waves her hands, gesturing to where the chocolate box had been resting yesterday.

“Yeah. I came home early from work. I’m sorry, I didn’t realise…” Hermione can’t stop the hurt from slipping into her voice. Clearly she missed something here. She notices Bellatrix twitch towards her, and stop herself. Hermione can see her wife shutting herself off, and more than anything, she doesn’t want that to happen, not because of her.

Hermione shifts closer to Bellatrix and rests her hand lightly on her wife’s knee.

“Hermione…” Bellatrix sighs.

Shaking her head, Hermione leans forward a little bit. “No, Bella, I’m sorry-”

“No!” Bellatrix exclaims loud enough to make Hermione jump, “no,” she repeats more quietly. “I think you’ve realised, that I’ve been eating your…”

“Chocolate, biscuits, yeah. I don’t mind, Bella, really,” Hermione says earnestly.

Bellatrix nods. “Yeah… When I was growing up, my mother and my aunt used to say that if we ate sweets, Andy, Cissy, and I, then we’d be undesirable, unmarriageable. I mean, marriage never mattered to me, not like it did to Cissy - she wanted to be perfect for her future husband - but they got in my head.” Bellatrix pauses, closing her eyes and breathing like Hermione taught her, and Hermione feels a swell of pride in her chest for her wife.

“So I don’t eat sweets around people, because, however stupid I know it is, I think that if someone, if  _ you _ , see me doing that, then you won’t… want me anymore.” Bellatrix turns her face away, and with a gentle hand Hermione turns it back to face her.

“Bella, my love, open your eyes. Look at me.” Hermione waits until Bellatrix does so, and she smiles softly. “I love you so,  _ so _ much, Bellatrix Black. I love you when you eat fish and chips. I love you when you drink firewhiskey. I even love you when you smoke, because I do know you do that,” Hermione arches an eyebrow, “I love you no matter what, okay? I will love you till the day I die, and a bit of chocolate won’t change my love for you, because does your love for me change when I have a biscuit, or eat chocolates?”

“No, you’re right, I know you are, pet, but it’s… hard.” Bellatrix leans forward, resting her forehead against Hermione’s. “I love you, Hermione, you’re incredible.”

Hermione laughs. “So are you, my love. Try something for me?” At Bellatrix’s hesitant nod, Hermioe shuffles over and rifles through the pile of chocolate, eventually selecting one triumphantly. “Try this? We’ll do it together.”

With another shaky nod from Bellatrix, Hermione unwraps the bar and hands Bellatrix a piece, snapping off a piece for herself. She settles next to Bellatrix, leaning against the couch, and takes Bellatrix’s hand in her own, holding it tight.

Bellatrix takes a deep breath, and eats the chocolate at the same time as Hermione.

“See, my love. Nothing happened. I’m still here, I still love you.” Hermione swung her leg over Bellatrix’s waist and straddled her, leaning down to capture Bella’s lips in a deep kiss, her tongue sweeping against Bellatrix’s, tasting the sweetness of the chocolate and caramel on her wife’s lips. “Let’s be late,” Hermione whispers, unbuttoning Bella’s pyjama shirt slowly. “I want you, my beautiful wife, right now.”

Bellatrix moans and grips Hermione’s shoulders, pulling her as close as possible. “I love you so much, pet.”

“Show me,” Hermione whispers, tilting her head so that Bellatrix has easy access to her neck. Bellatrix does.


End file.
